Garment bag dispensers



1961 c. B. WESTFALL, JR 2,997,167

GARMENT BAG DISPENSERS Filed June 13, 1960 rates Patent Patented Aug. 22,' 1961 Rassenfoss Bag Company, Glenview, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed June 13, 1960, Ser. No. 35,697 Claims. (Cl. 20657) This invention relates to garment bags and more particularly to garment bags used by cleaners for protecting garments after they have been cleaned and while being delivered to the customer. The invention is particularly directed to the manner of retaining a number of garment bags in a unique form of package so as to enable easy and quick use of the bags without loss due to handling.

Garment bags used by cleaners are generally made of a thin plastic film that is di-fiicult to handle. A static charge will accumulate and cause the film to cling to itself and surrounding objects. Its thinness makes the film easily torn and wrinkled. This adds to the spoilage and diiiiculty in handling. Being able to bag garments quickly is also an important factor in the use of a product of this kind.

An object of the invention is to provide a number of plastic garment bags in a convenient form of package that is commercially feasible to handle but which will allow quick and easy use of each bag without incurring any loss and provide easy access to each bag in order to effect quick dispensing of the bags and quick bagging of garments.

A further object of the invention is to provide a convenient form of dispensing package of this type for holding a plurality of garment bags, which is simple and inexpensive to make.

A further objects of the invention is to provide a convenient form of dispensing package of this type for holding a plurality of garment bags which is practical to ship and makes a very easy unit to use when dispensing the individual garment bags.

Further objects of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a package of garment bags embodying the present invention that is mounted in a manner to conveniently dispense the individual bags and permit easy bagging of garments;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the package shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view with a portion of the top holder of the package cut away as well as a portion of the garment bags;

FIG. 4 is a similar view but showing the ease oi? removing a single bag without disturbing any of the other bags held as a group by the top holder;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the bag itself; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the manner in which the sealing operation is performed at the upper end of each bag and where it is severed to effect a minimum loss of material.

A garment bag of the plastic film type is usually made from a continuous tubular extruded body having a minimum wall thickness. This tubular body is cut into desirable lengths 1, each length being heat-sealed at spaced intervals along lines 2 and 3 that slope inwardly and slightly upwardly with an opening at the center 4. Opening 4 may be the result of a cut formed after the heat-sealing operation. FIG. 6 illustrates diagrammatically apparatus that might be used to perform the sealing operation. The tubular material in the form of a continuous strip may be moved across, say, a plate or similar member 19 that may be covered with a layer of Teflon 20 or the like. Heater 21 may be in the form of an electrically-heated blade 22 that can be arranged to have its lower edge 23 strike the material 1 in timed relation to the movement of this material across plate 19 whereby lines 2 and 3 are formed by a series of sealed lengths 24 and 25. These lengths are spaced by unsealed portions 26 and 27 and an unsealed portion 28 at the center. Simultaneously with or substantially at the same time, this material 1 may be cut along line 29, which will extend across unsealed portions 28 from the inner corners of the innermost sealed portions 24 and 25, thus forming center opening 4. Portions 8 and 9 remain between this cut line 29, and lines 2 and 3 are formed by the sealed lengths 24 and 25 and unsealed portions 26 and 27. Each sealing and cutting operation will provide a length forming the garment bag designated broadly as 7 in FIG. 5.

It will be noted that the lower edge 23 of heating blade 22 is of toothlike formation with open spaces 31 that will leave the unsealed portions 26 and 27 when this edge 23 strikes the material 1. The heating action will penetrate sufiiciently at lengths 24- and 25 so as to seal the top layer to the bottom layer forming the tubular material '1 and at the same time weaken the material at such sealed lengths 24 and 25 so as to cause the material readily to separate therealong by a slight pull downwardly from the lower portion of the bag body. The unsealed portions 26 and 27 will easily tear apart at the time of this slight pull.

A predetermined number of lengths can be stacked or laid one upon another lengthwise to form a bundle that may comprise a saleable unit of garment bags to a cleaner or like establishment that uses such bags.

As illustrated in the drawing, a U-shaped holder 30, Which may be of any desired material, although still cardboard is suitable, receives the upper ends 8 and 9 of the bundle of lengths 1. Ends 8 and 9 are inserted a distance between both legs 19 and 1']. of holder 30 so that when these legs are pressed together with the ends 8 and 9 therebetween, a simple form of stapling machine may be used to clip all said ends 8 and 9 and both legs 10 and 1l-1 tightly together into a fixed unit. The staples are shown at 12' and 13. They pierce into and through both legs 10 and i1 and through all the upper ends 8 and 9 of the garment bags in the bundle.

It will be noted that these staples 12 and 13 are located at the upper ends 8 and 9 above the weakened lines 2 and 3. The arrangement is clearly shown in FIG. 3, which shows one of the holder legs broken away. When a slight pull is placed upon the lower end of a garment bag, it will be separated along lines 2 and 3 from top parts 8 and 9 and these top parts 8 and 9 will remain in holder 30 by staples 12 and 13 as clearly shown in FIG. 4. A clean separation is made and any and all of the bags may be removed from holder 30 in this manner, leaving only the top portions 8 and 9 to remain in the holder 30.

Suitable holes 15 may be provided in holder 30 near its top edge so as to receive hooks 16 or the like to support holder 30 in a convenient location when the bags are to be used. A garment-supporting stand 17 is commonly used in the industry to support the conventional type of garment hanger 18 during the bagging operation. Holder 30 may be mounted above stand 17 so that a garment bag 7 may be separated from the package as shown in FIG. 1 and spread over and upon the garment on hanger 18. This garment bag 7 can then be pulled down and completely over the garment with the hook of hanger 18 passing through open end 4 in the usual way. The garment now protected in a bag that is substantially closed at the top, except when the hanger hook passes through opening 4, may be removed from stand 17.

It will be observed from the foregoing that I have provided a simple and inexpensive form of dispensing package adapted to contain a predetermined number of garment bags that can be easily and economically used to bag garments in minimum time without unnecessary loss of any of the bags comprising the package. The bags are also easily made by a combined heat-sealing and cutting operation at the top of a length of tubular plastic film. Very little of the material thus used is left within holder 30 when a bag is removed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. It may be considered to be but a minimum waste for the result accomplished. The convenience of handling garment bags of plastic film in a package of this type, both when buying such package from a manufacturer of such a package and storing the same until ready to be used and when using the same at the time of bagging the garments so that there is no loss of the bags, more than oifsets the cost of the upper portions 8 and 9 that are not used.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully explain the character of my invention that others may, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt the same for use under varying conditions of service, without eliminating certain features, which may properly be said to constitute the essential items of novelty involved, which items are intended to be defined and secured to me by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A garment bag for use in protecting garments comprising a flat tubular body of thin plastic film open at both ends, a substantially U-shaped inverted holder, said body being inserted at its upper end into said inverted holder and stapled thereto, a portion of said body below said stapling being formed with sealed lengths spaced apart by unsealed lengths that extend inwardly and upwardly from opposite longitudinal sides of said body, said sealed lengths and unsealed lengths terminating short of the center of said body, there being a cut at said center of said body, said sealed lengths forming weakened uncut portions so that the bag may be removed from its said upper end portion stapled to said inverted holder by a pull which will sever said weakened uncut portions, said unsealed portions also separating by said pull, whereby to leave the said upper end portions stapled to said inverted holder,

2. A garment bag for use in protecting garments comprising a flat tubular body of thin plastic film open at both ends, a holder, the upper end of said body being secured to said holder, a portion below said secured upper end of said body being formed with a series of alternating unsealed portions and sealed portions along lines extending inwardly and upwardly from opposite longitudinal sides of said body, said lines terminating short of the center of said body, there being an opening at said center of said body, said sealed portions forming weakened portions so that the bag may be removed from said upper end portion secured to said holder by a pull which will sever said weakened portions and said unsealed portions whereby to leave said upper end portion secured to said holder.

3. A garment bag for use in protecting garments comprising a fiat tubular body of thin plastic film open at both ends, a substantially U-shaped inverted holder, said body being inserted at its upper end into said inverted holder and secured thereto, a portion of said body below said secured upper end being formed with alternately sealed and unsealed portions in lines extending inwardly and upwardly from opposite longitudinal sides of said body, said lines terminating short of the center of said body, there being a cut at said center of said body, said sealed portions forming weakened portions which with said unsealed portions may be separated from said upper end secured to said inverted holder by a pull upon the lower part of said tubular body whereby to leave the said upper end secured to said inverted holder.

4. A garment bag for use in protecting garments comprising a flat tubular body of plastic film open at both ends, a substantially U-shaped inverted holder, said body being inserted at its upper end into said inverted holder and secured thereto, a portion of said body below said secured upper end being sealed at spaced intervals along lines extending inwardly and upwardly from opposite longitudinal sides of said body, there being a cut between said sealed lines at the center of said body and unsealed portions between the sealed portions, said sealed portions forming weakened uncut portions so that the bag may be removed from said upper end secured to said inverted holder by a pull which will sever said weakened portions and unsealed portions whereby to leave the said upper end secured to said inverted holder.

5. A garment bag for use in protecting garments comprising a body of plastic film open at both ends, a substantially U-shaped inverted holder, said body being inserted at its upper end into said inverted holder and secured thereto, a portion of said body below said secured upper end being sealed at spaced intervals along lines extending inwardly and upwardly from opposite longitudinal sides of said body, said sealed lines terminating short of the center of said body and having unsealed portions between the sealed portions, there being a spaced out at said center of said body, said sealed portions forming weakened uncut portions so that the bag may be removed from said upper end secured to said inverted holder by a pull which will sever said upper end secured to said inverted holder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,222,450 Nuckolls Apr. 10, 1917 1,354,810 Erickson Oct. 5, 1920 1,623,806 Nienhauser Apr. 5, 1927 2,817,432 Grigsby Dec. 24, 1957 

